The Department of Foreign Affairs has made its third change in under a month to travel warnings for Australians heading to the United States.
This comes as the Trump administration continues to enforce and increase stricter border controls, detaining and deporting foreigners and tourists.
While DFAT has not changed the USA's overall rating from green on Smart Traveller, which means "exercise normal safety precautions", it has increased warnings multiple times in recent weeks.
Back on 4 April, the Smart Traveller highlighted existing entry requirements for the U.S. and how strict they were already, as border authorities "actively pursue, detain, or deport people who are in the country illegally" and added that "officials may ask to inspect electronic devices, emails, text messages or social media accounts" with refusal to do so leading to a possible denial of entry.
Later in the same month, on 16 April, the advice was updated once again.
This time a warning was added, highlighting the law forcing foreigners who are in the country for more than 30 days to register with authorities, alongside instructions on how to check if travellers have been registered.
And now the latest update on 6 May, reminds travellers that there is now a new requirement for boarding domestic flights in the States, requiring a passport or photo ID which meets the Department of Homeland Security requirements.
However, it seems that the U.S. isn't the top concern for Australian travellers as the latest DFAT data also revealed that Thailand has remained consistently the international location with the highest number of Australian deaths, illness and hospitalisations.
From 2023 to 2024, 324 Australians died in Thailand, 180 more deaths than the next country on the list, the Philippines.
This ranking has remained consistent for the Southeast Asian nation, over 10 years.
The official advice level for Thailand is still 2 out of 4, warning Australians to “exercise a high degree of caution in Thailand overall due to security and safety risks” and highlights alcohol and nightlife as things to remain on alert for.
